Repatriated 60 archaeological artifacts from the United States. Estimated value: more than $20 million

Sixty archaeological artifacts were repatriated from the United States and presented today in the Spadolini Room of the Ministry of Culture in Rome. They had been traded by international traffickers and have an estimated value of more than $20 million. The recovery is by the Carabinieri per la Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale (TPC) together with the New York County District Attorney’s Office (DAO).

The works had been offered for sale by a number of art brokers and later found their way into private U.S. collections, such as that of one of the world’s largest collectors of ancient art, who was even given a lifetime ban on the purchase of antiquities for the first time of its kind as a result of the multi-year, multinational criminal investigation conducted by the DAO. The investigation activity was supported by the photographic investigations, carried out by personnel of the Data Processing Section of the TPC Command, which verified the works identified in the context of criminal proceedings against several international traffickers in archaeological artifacts, in the course of which the TPC Operations Department seized large quantities of photographic and documentary material referring to thousands of stolen goods, including those presented today.

These goods had been placed on the international antiquities market through transactions carried out by cultural property fences and art dealers, without the prescribed permits, moreover, goods proceeds from clandestine excavation or theft, and marketed in the U.S. market. There was also no trace in any publication of the eventual scientific excavations that proffered their discovery, moreover, of exceptional quality and cultural significance. Therefore, the finds were not known to the academic world until the date of their acquisition in the antiques market.

Thanks to the documentary and photographic evidence in the possession of the Carabinieri’s Tpc Department, it was possible to determine that the artifacts came from clandestine excavations operated in Italy and exported abroad without the required permits from the Ministry of Culture. In fact, the artifacts could never have left the national territory.

The press conference was addressed by Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano; Commander of the Carabinieri TPC, Gen. B. Vincenzo Molinese; Deputy District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, Col. Matthew Bogdanos; Deputy Prosecutor at the Court of Rome, Angelantonio Racanelli; Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Christina Tomlinson; and Federica Pitzalis, MiC archaeology officer.

“The recovery of these artifacts by the Carabinieri per la Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale is a great success in the context of activities to combat the illicit trafficking of property belonging to our nation. I thank the Arma for the valuable and irreplaceable daily work, carried out in every part of the world,” said Minister Sangiuliano. “We have completed an important operation thanks to valuable Italian-American cooperation. The cooperation between the judiciaries of the two countries allowed us to achieve a result of historic significance,” said Gen. Molinese.

Repatriated 60 archaeological artifacts from the United States. Estimated value: more than $20 million

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